72 



Common in tlie ditches and dikes of the salt-marshes. Mr. Jones 

 states* that it attains the weight of two or three pounds, and is very 

 destructive to young ducklings. It is not eaten. 



I obtained a specimen measuring five inches, which I refer with some 

 hesitation to the above species, as measurements made from speci- 

 mens contracted by strong alcohol are not satisfactory. The length of 

 the head is contained once and a half in the distance between the gill- 

 opening and the dorsal, twice in the distance between the gill-opening 

 and the vent. The distance between the origins of the dorsal and anal 

 is contained once and a half in the length of the head. 



MUE^NIDiE. , 



GYMNOTHOEAX MORINGA, {Cuvier) Goode. 

 Speckled Maeay. 



Murcena maculata nigra (Black Murey), Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and 



Bahamas, ii, 1743, 21, tab. 21, 174. 

 Murcena moriw^ra, Cuvier, Regno Animal, 1817. — Stoker, Syn. Fish N.Am. 1846,235 

 Murcena moringua, Eichardson, Voy. H. M. S. S. Erebus & Terror, Ichth. 1846, 89. — 



Kaup, Cat. Apod. Fish. Brit. Mas. 1856, 89. 

 Gymnotliorax rostratus, Agassiz, in Spix's Selecta Gen. et Spec. Brasil, 1829, 91, tab. 1, 



a.— Mull & Trosch., Schomburgk's Hist. Barbados, 1848, ()7G. — Poey, Eep. 



ii, 1860-1, 259, 427.— Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. Phila. 1870, 483. 

 MurenopMs rostratus, Castelnau, Anim. Nouv. ou Eares, Am6rique du Sud, 1855, 80, 



pi. xlii, f. 1. 

 MurenopMs curvilineata, Castelnau, op. cit. 81, pi. xlii, f. 2. 



Occasional: the species occurs throughout the West Indies, at Bahia and 

 at Saint Helena. My specimen measures three feet, and has the verti- 

 cal fins edged with white. These fishes are said to attain a length of five 

 or six feet, and are considered excellent food by the lower classes : I am 

 told, however, that serious cases of poisoning have been occasioned by 

 their use. The Speckled Maray is not rare, but by no means as common 

 as the Green Maray. I saw a single specimen of the latter, but as I could 

 not obtain it for study I was unable to determine its specific relations. 

 It resembles closely the " Muray " of Catesby,t which I have reason to 

 believe is not identical with his " Black Muray", as is generally sup- 

 posed. 



* Naturalist in Bermuda, p. 103. 



tNat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and Bahamas, 20, pi. xx— IfMr^na maculata nigra 

 and viiidis. 



